I have never been a blogger. In fact, I don’t read blogs. But given that I feel “a picture is worth a thousand words” and there was also quite a bit of interest in my move to Georgia, I thought I’d look into blogging in order to share photos and impressions.
When I started considering a blog the name “Making Good” immediately came to mind. More specifically, the phrase “Making good on a threat” popped into my head. For several years now I have been joking that “one day I am going to pack up my things, put them in my parents’ basement, and fly off somewhere”. Just before Christmas 2011 I was pretty sure I was going to do it. When I bought that large package of dental floss at BJs two days after Christmas, I knew I had made my decision. This winter I enrolled in a TEFL certification course, submitted an application, and made a bunch of medical appointments. Several months later, guess where all my stuff is currently. Yup - my parents’ basement. So, I’m making good on that threat.
But “Making Good” has other connotations. Like making good of a bad situation. Namely using where I was in 2011 to get me here.
Or simply going out there and working to make some good in the world.
After many years in Boston, it was time to get overseas again. Flying into Tbilisi, looking down on snow capped mountains and green forests, I was reminded of how much I enjoy going to new places. Upon seeing Tbilisi for the first time, my thought was “Why didn’t I do this years ago!?!”
So, here I sit. In Tbilisi, in a country that most Americans know nothing about, a place that was inaccessible until two decades ago, listening to music coming in the open window from a restaurant that reminds me of one on the hills of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria (where I studied in 1997). Today I used my Russian to communicate with taxi drivers and shopkeepers, bought baked goods and pears and the largest fruit roll up in the world (apricot), saw kids (possibly Roma - aka Gypsy) begging, and was reminded that it’s time for making good.
No comments:
Post a Comment